Thyssen Krupp in Duisburg has started production of the synthetic fuel methanol from steel mill gases, marking the first time anywhere in the world that gases from steel production — including the CO₂ they contain — have been converted into chemicals (www.thyssenkrupp.com).

This operation is part of the Carbon2Chem project, which is being funded to the tune of around 60 million euros
by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Carbon2Chem is being co-ordinated by Thyssen Krupp in collaboration with institutes of the Fraunhofer Society and the Max Planck Society, plus 15 other partners from research and industry.

Implemented on an industrial scale, this technology has the potential to convert around 20 million tonnes of the German steel sector’s annual CO₂ emissions; it can also be used in other CO₂-intensive industries.

Education and Research Minister Anja Karliczek said: “There is no point just prescribing climate protection targets, if we don’t have the technical means to implement them.

"That is why we are supporting forward-looking projects like Carbon2Chem.

They show that investments in climate-friendly technologies are worthwhile.

"Thanks to research and innovation efforts, climate protection and competitive steel production can now be combined successfully, protecting the environment and securing jobs.”

Carbon2Chem is based on the fact that steel mill gases contain valuable chemical elements such as carbon (in the form of carbon monoxide and CO2), nitrogen and hydrogen.

As a result, they can be used to produce carbon- and hydrogen-containing synthesis gas, which is a starting material for the manufacture of various chemicals such as ammonia, methanol, polymers and higher alcohols.

Synthesis gases are currently extracted from fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal.

Carbon2Chem not only converts the CO₂ contained in the steel mill emissions, it also saves the CO₂ that was previously created during the production of synthesis gas.

Carbon2Chem is also attracting a great deal of interest from outside Europe. World-wide, there are around 50 steel mills that would be suitable for Carbon2Chem.

Moreover, Thyssen Krupp is already conducting talks with interested parties from various regions about howthe technology can be transferred to other CO₂-intensive sectors.